Beads & Boos: Take this chance to help steer the 5th District

BEADS: To the 14 candidates who have qualified for the special election in the 5th Congressional District. The election is necessary because U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Ruston, has resigned, effect Sept. 26, midway through his sixth term. The primary election is set for Oct. 19. A runoff, if needed, will be held Nov. 16. Beads, too, to the candidates who will attend today's forum in Alexandria. It will be a good opportunity for them and for members of the public who attend. The forum is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sai Convention Center, 2301 N. MacArthur Drive, Alexandria. Cost is $15 per person. Online: www.CenlaChamber.org.

BEADS: To all freshmen at Louisiana College, and to the college in Pineville, which builds community service into the orientation of incoming students. During last week's Wildcat Welcome week, students were out and about helping others - at Hope House of Central Louisiana, T.R.E.E. House Children's Museum, the Food Bank of Central Louisiana, Children's Advocacy Center and elsewhere. "Volunteers like this are valuable, and we appreciate their time and their energy," Hope House Executive Director Sandy Ray told The Town Talk. "It just makes my heart sing to see young people like this give back." We welcome LC's newest Wildcats and thank them for the service for which the private Baptist college is known. Online: www.lacollege.edu.

BEADS: To those who are contributing to the memorial funds set up for the family of Christopher Lane, the 22 year-old college baseball player from Australia who was fatally shot while he was jogging in Duncan, Okla. To donate online, go to the Christopher Lane Fund, started by friend Marshall Veal for Lane's family, at www.gofundme.com/3zktjc and the Chris Lane Memorial Foundation at East Central University, where Lane was enrolled and playing catcher on the baseball team, at http://alumni.ecok.edu/donations.

BOOS: To the three teenagers who have been charged with killing Christopher Lane while he was jogging in Duncan, Okla. One of them has told police that they were "bored" and wanted to kill someone for the "fun of it."

BOOS: To further proof (as if we needed it) that politicians say one thing and do another. A law touted by politicians as their way of keeping money in the pockets of the nation's college students will instead funnel more than $700 million in additional profit into the federal government's wallet over the next 10 years, a new analysis shows. The law, regulating interest rates for federal student loans, was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama this summer. The law will accomplish that in the short term, but it also guarantees profits for the government every year for the next decade and, starting in 2016, increases those already-high profit levels, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

BEADS: To the hint that summer's heat may end sometime.

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Beads & Boos: Take this chance to help steer the 5th District

BEADS: To the 14 candidates who have qualified for the special election in the 5th Congressional District. The election is necessary because U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-Ruston, has resigned, effect